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New Game Feature: Ranged Combat Abilities (archery, throwing, magic)

08-20-2016, 01:12 PM

Hey guys,

So today I'm releasing a new feature for Castle Marrach, the Ranged Combat Library, or simply @Ranged Combat. It's been tentatively released as a beta version for the last few weeks; some of you may have been practicing with the crossbows - quite a few more of you have been zapped with lightning. This is all part of a new system to allow ranged attacks and counters-to-ranged-attacks to be implemented in Castle Marrach. As with any newly released system of this magnitude; it has been tested, but there will probably be bugs - there's just no way to predict every possible way you guys will think of to break my poor code until I release it and you do so.

OVERVIEW

The @Ranged system is a library of scripts addressing a compilation of requests for various ranged/projectile attack abilities that have been requested over the last couple years, compiled into a central "projectile attack" master script that controls all kinds of these abilities in a centralized system. This system functions around a consent check - you can never inflict a coded wound or death on another player character in Castle Marrach without some kind of check enacted, or action taken by the target character to allow or cause that injury. The Ranged Combat Library is not so much a fighting script as it is a script to handle a single ranged attack and determine an outcome. It includes the following:

Archery with bows and crossbows

Throwing of both MGeneric wieldable weapons (certain ones) as well as other non-wieldable weapons specifically designed for @throw

Magic ranged attacks triggered through sorcery, or through magic items

A "charge" feature to allow melee combatants to attempt to charge a ranged attacker's projectiles and tackle them to the ground (or stab them)

Three new @study'able skills; bow, crossbow, throwing

New sorcery spells both offensive and defensive, with framework to add more as they're researched by PCs.

In Castle Marrach you must always give consent in order for your character to be wounded or killed. This is often done by using the @wound command, or through implied consent by taking certain actions on your character that suggest the risk of injury or death; such as engaging with a combat system like Duel 2.0 or MCombat, or doing something dangerous with your character like tampering with trapped doors in dangerous areas of the castle.

For @Ranged Combat this is no different. While @Ranged and its associated commands are not a full combat system like Duel 2.0 or MCombat, what they aim to do is create a specially coded consent system that allows another player to attempt to attack and wound or kill your character outside of those combat systems. Obviously, Duel 2.0 is not designed for situations where ranged abilities are being used - the core of that system assumes two characters standing within striking distance at all times trying to hit one another, whereas the key component to any ranged fighting style is to remain outside of your opponent's striking distance in order to stay alive.

And so we have @Ranged. When a character attempts to attack you with any ranged attack ability you will receive a notification on your screen and be prompted to enter one of several responses before that attack is permitted to take place. This check is always in place and is separate from your @consent lists and will take place regardless of whether someone is on your @consent list or if you have @consent allow all enabled.

Use of the command @ranged will allow you to choose how you wish to defend against this attack - if you want to defend against it at all, as well as whether you wish to OOCly permit or deny consent for this attack to be used against your character at all. The following options are enabled through @Ranged:

@RANGED 'DODGE - Have your character attempt to dodge a projectile attack. This will roll your character's dodge skill vs the accuracy of the attack being used on you. All projectile attacks can be dodged but the success rate will depend on the skill level of your dodge vs the skill level of your attacker's ranged ability.

@RANGED 'BLOCK - Have your character attempt to block a projectile attack using their shield. Block has a higher avoidance chance per skill level than dodge, but requires you be wielding a properly coded shield in order to function. You can also just "wear" a shield to allow "block" as well in case you don't have a weapon to @dualwield your shield with, - DO NOT us the wear method if your character is using a two-handed weapon at the time (honour system on this). Some attacks, particularly some magic projectiles, cannot be blocked, and if you try to block them you will automatically fail your defense roll. However a shield is your best defense against "physical" ranged attacks such as arrows, bolts, thrown weapons and most non-magic ranged attacks.

@RANGED 'SUBMIT - Allow this attack to take place and make no attempt to avoid it. Maybe your character is in a situation where, roleplay wise, an attack shouldn't plausibly miss them? Perhaps they're tied to a chair or pinned under a rock. Or maybe they just want to accept their fate and stand there. An attack will always hit you if you submit.

@RANGED 'DENY - OOCly refuse consent for this attack, this should only be done if there is some reason your character should not be able to be attacked, and is primarily intended to prevent powerplay. The main purpose of the consent check in @Ranged Combat is to prevent wounds being forced on your character when there is OOC debate as to whether it should be possible, IE; a restrained character throwing an axe at you, or a character with no hands shooting a crossbow, or someone attacking you when hidden behind a wall or pillar, and so on. Do not be afraid to deny consent to be attacked if there is an dispute regarding the validity of an attack, but also be advised that using the DENY feature sends a record of events to StoryGuides and will itself be seen as powerplay/abuse if used inappropriately to avoid attack against your character in situations where it should have been allowed.

@RANGED 'CANCEL - Cancel a ranged attack from yourself that is currently awaiting consent from a PC target. You can only use a ranged attack on one character at a time, if that character is unresponsive you may wish to cancel that attack to continue a scene.

@THROW/@SHOOT (offensive ranged commands)

Two new @commands have been implemented in order to facilitate the use of @Ranged Combat, @throw and @shoot. Both of these commands function in the same manner, allowing you to initiate an attack against another player target by prompting them to consent to the attack via @Ranged (above).

Certain MGeneric weapons updated for use with Duel 2.0 and MCombat should be recognized by @throw. The stats and variables associated with that @throw attempt will be determined by what kind of weapon it is (see ATTACK BALANCING AND COMPARISONS below).

The command @shoot is used for bows and crossbows. These weapons must be loaded before firing, and can optionally be aimed at a target first, which grants an accuracy bonus over time (aim command is not yet implemented, check for updates).

Comment

Charging is a feature added in @Ranged Combat intended to allow close-range and long-distance combatants to conflict with each other with some form of system-determined outcome. This is not a combat system comparable to duel 2.0 so much as a simple command intended to simulate what happens when melee character engages in combat with a ranged character.

One of the chief obstacles with roleplaying fighting scenes in a text based environment is that there is no effective way to determine distance:

How long does it take my character to cross the courtyard to attack yours?
How many arrows can you shoot in that time?

In reality it takes 2 seconds for my character to reach yours if I type "stab X with my sword" (2 seconds being the real-time delay between approaching an object and carrying out the verb you entered if you typed "punch Kurzon" without already being in my proximity) but in a text based roleplaying environment we can't always use actual real world time to determine how long it takes to complete an action; because it takes more time for us to read or type something into text than it does to do or say it in real life. A coded real-world 10 second delay to load my bow is an ineffective way to determine whether you can reach my character before I shoot at you or not, because it penalizes you for actually roleplaying running across the room at me and taking time to type and roleplay that action as opposed to just typing "stab Kurzon", which is considered poor form in any fight scene.

@Charge attempts to address this conundrum. The command @charge allows you to have your character charge at another character. Using this command on another character sets you to a "list" of characters currently set to "charge at" that character. Whenever that character uses any ability recognized by @Ranged combat, your character will "advance" towards the target, tracking distance from the target in what is called "distance points" (which can be checked at any time to see how far away everyone is).

What this does, in essence, is make ranged combat almost "turn based" - you CANNOT advance on your enemy without them using some kind of @Ranged ability. This not only gives you time to roleplay out the scene, but it gives the ranged combatant the ability to control the "speed" of the scene, so that he or she has time to react and roleplay to everyone else's emits as well.

The amount by which you advance when a coded @Ranged ability is used varies by the speed of that ability. This speed is determined by a script that detects and matches the amount of distance points to the real-time coded delay that ability requires to use it. Example: It takes 30 seconds to load a crossbow, that 30 seconds is reduced by an amount determined by your crossbow skill. If my final delay time to load a crossbow is 24 seconds, then loading my crossbow while being charged at will reduce my charger's distance by 24 distance points. So! The higher your ranged combat skills, the faster you prepare your attack, the less distance points people gain per ranged action, and thus the more shots you can fire before someone reaches you.

@Charge recognizes the following abilities as a ranged ability (and will thus deduct distance points if these actions are taken):

Bows and crossbows; loading them, aiming them and firing them all separately deduct distance points.

Throwing weapons; throwing them deducts distance points, they do not need to be loaded and cannot be aimed for an accuracy bonus

Magic items; any other magic item that has an effect recognized by @Ranged combat (such as teleportation) requires use of a small amount of distance points to simulate the time it takes to use that effect (ie: brush my magic ring is a common one)

So how does this end?

If a charging character is struck by any @Ranged attack, even from someone they're not currently charging at, their @Charge attempt ends. If they're still alive, they can get up and try to charge again, but their distance is reset and they have to race down the barrage of ranged attacks once more.

However, if the remaining distance between the ranged attacker and any of his charging opponents reaches 0, the charging character "catches" the ranged opponent and will tackle him or her to the ground, interrupting whatever ranged ability was being used, knock his/her ranged weapon from his/her hands, and end all current @Charge attempts against him/her. If @charge was used with the injure parameter instead of the tackle parameter (see command syntaxes below) and the charging character is wielding a sharp weapon, a wound will additionally be inflicted on the ranged combatant when caught.

At this point the ranged combat portion of that scene is considered concluded. If the ranged combatant is still alive he/she can roleplay continuing the struggle, either by getting up and engaging with a melee combat system such as Duel 2.0 or using some other trick up their sleeve to fight back if they have one.

Like any other combat system, @Charge expects both the attacker and defender actually wish to fight. Charging is not intended to be done against characters who are not using ranged attacks or used to simulate tackling fleeing characters (since you're never going to "advance" towards the target unless they use an attack). If someone uses @charge on you (randomly?) and you don't want to engage in @ranged combat with them, simply @charge 'cease to end all charge attempts on you.

Ranged attacks can be used while charging but they cannot be 'prepared'. IE: you cannot load or aim a ranged weapon, or cast a spell while charging at someone. You can throw a carried weapon while running at your target, however there are penalties and limitations to doing this.

Command Syntaxes

> @charge
The @charge command is used to charge at a character who is using ranged attacks. When you have a character set as your charge target, every time the that character uses a ranged action, you will advance closer to them. If you reach the target, you will automatically perform an attack. If you are hit by any ranged attack while charging, it will cancel your charge attempt and you will have to restart it. Syntaxes associated with @charge are:

@charge <target> 'tackle - Have your character commence a charge; you will tackle the ranged target to the ground if you reach them.@charge <target> 'injure - Have your character commence a charge; you will strike the ranged target with your weapon if you reach them.@charge 'cancel - Cancels a current charge you're making.@charge 'cease - Use this as the ranged fighter to end all @charge attempts against you if you are done with coded combat attacks and teleportation abilities for the rest of the scene.@charge 'status - Gives you the current status of who you are charging or being charged by.@charge 'pause - Manually toggles pause status of your @charge on and off; while paused you will not advance in distance points.@charge 'increase # - Manually increases the distance between you and your target by the specified # between 1 and 20, for situations that call for it.@charge 'decrease # - Manually decreases the distance between you and your target by the specified # between 1 and 20, for situations that call for it.

> @shoot my bow at mudkip
You are attempting to attack Mudkip with a archery ability. This requires his consent.

You fire a loaded light crossbow at Mudkip; a steel tipped practice bolt soars through the air and strikes him as he tries to dodge then tumbles to the ground!
Mudkip is no longer charging at you.

> @charge 'statusYou are not currently charging anyone.
You are being charged at by Pikachu with a distance of 5 distance points.

> load my bow with my ammo
You begin loading a light crossbow with a steel tipped practice bolt...
Pikachu rushes forth and tackles you to the ground, interrupting your crossbow ability!
A light crossbow flies from StoryHost Kurzon's hands and falls to the floor!
Pikachu is no longer charging at you.

----

Note: This is a drastic example, because I was loading crossbow shots (crossbows being the slowest ability, take 20 seconds to "load" at my current skill level). Most ranged abilities won't take a full 20 distance points to use, most are closer to 10ish depending on skill levels. If you're unsure, figure out how long it takes to use an ability; a 1 second coded delay in real life is translated to 1 distance point by the @Charge control script.

Comment

Several categories of ranged attack currently exist within @Ranged Combat, and the attack library for @Ranged Combat was designed in such a way that it is relatively easy to add new ones as they become necessary. A number of traits are used to balance the pros and cons of different attack types, including attack speed, accuracy bonuses/penalties, wound level, and other special traits.

Archery:

Archery covers bows and crossbows. While both of these weapons function similarly using the same commands, they roll from two different skills (bow skill or crossbow skill respectively) and both have different traits that affect what happens when you use them in combat. To shoot a bow, use the command: @shoot my <bow object> at <PC target>

Loading: Archery attacks are uniquely slow in that they are the only weapon that requires you to "load" it first - crossbow loading is drastically slower than loading regular bows. This is done via the command load my <bow object> with my <ammo object>. Bows require arrows and crossbows require bolts, their ammunition types are not interchangeable. Numerous types of ammunition exists within these two categories however; both live and dummy ammo, but other possibilities may exist in a magic world; exploding dwarven crossbow bolts, venom-tipped arrows, who knows what you might find in Castle Marrach.

Long distance shooting: Archery weapons have a unique trait that no other @Ranged ability has; the ability to shoot through a coded exit into another room. A high enough skill level in your associated archery skill is required in order to do this, and an accuracy penalty is suffered when attempting it. This is done with the command: @shoot my <bow object> at <exit> "<PC name>. Consent check through @Ranged still applies here, so the victim will OOCly know who they're being shot at by when the @Ranged consent message appears - this is not to be used as IC knowledge unless there should be some way the victim knows for sure who fired an arrow at them (ie: someone shot at you through a dead-end exit and was the only one in that room).

Archery stats at a glance:

Pros

Highly accurate (more accurate for crossbows than bows)

Can use "aim" ability to further increase accuracy.

Can shoot through exits to hit distant targets.

Can have widely varying effects when using rare, magical ammunition types

Penetrate mgeneric armour (crossbows only)

Cons

Must be loaded before firing (slower process for crossbows than bows)

Easily repelled with shields unless certain special ammunition types are used

Requires you to possess a bow or crossbow, and ammunition for it.

Firing ammunition expends it. Ammunition is placed on the ground if the attack missed, or in the target's inventory if struck. You are expected not to keep firing and picking up the same arrow through the course of the same combat scene, as we assume the arrow is on the other side of the room after you shoot it. Some ammunition is destroyed entirely on use.

Throwing:

Throwing is the most readily accessible means of @Ranged combat, because MGeneric weapons are so widely available compared to bows, crossbows and magic attacks. Any of the following MGeneric armoury weapons can be thrown; "sidearm" (daggers/stilettos), "sword, onehand", "axe, onehand" as well as "polearm" class weapons but only if they are spears (no poleaxe throwing). In addition to this, certain non-wieldable weapons designed specifically for throwing combat (such as alchemy grenades) can also be thrown. The command to do this is: @throw my <throwing object> at <PC Target>. If a thrown weapon strikes an opponent, and that thrown weapon is set to have a special effect that triggers in when you wound a target in duel 2.0 (such as poisoning or magic enchantment) it will also trigger that react for @throw successful hits.

In order to throw any wieldable weapon you require at least Novice (level 1) Throwing skill, however no Throwing skill is required to throw non-wieldable weapons designed for throwing. Throwing weapons are by default the least accurate ranged attack. However, using different kinds of throwing weapons can affect this:

Two hand throwing weapons (spears only, so far): have an accuracy penalty but inflict an increased wound level

The idea here, guys, is that CM is not going to become a game of dodgeball now that the @throw ability exists. Throwing accuracy is intentionally low, and if you throw your weapon away, well, now you're weaponless unless you have a spare. Still, for those of you who feel it's core to your character concept to be able to hurl an axe Ragnar Lothbrok style, it's now plausible to learn that skill and raise it to a level where you have a decent chance to hit someone with a thrown weapon as a last resort.

Note: For those of you who carry 4 to 5 weapons on your belt or in your pouch or a container that shouldn't fit them; stop it, this has been posted about several times, and now that those weapons count as "ammo" for @throw it's going to be taken more seriously by StoryGuides if you're seen doing this.

Charge and Throw: Throwing attacks are the only attack type you can use while @Charge'ing at an opponent. You can only throw one weapon each @Charge attempt, and require Journeyman (level 5) throwing in order to do this.

Throwing stats at a glance:

Pros:

More easily attainable than any other @Ranged weapon

Can be quickly used - does not require a loading or casting time before use.

"Throw away" attack type - once you've thrown your weapon, you no longer have it; it will be on the ground near your target (or in their inventory if the attack hit)

Some thrown items (like alchemical grenades) are consumed on use and destroyed when thrown.

Easily repelled with shields, though some throwing weapons are designed to destroy shields specifically.

Magic:

AKA: pretty much just sorcery at the moment.

It's difficult to sum up magic abilities the way throwing and archery is, because they vary so wildly depending on the specific spell being used. No magic abilities have specific @commands coded from them, they all use whatever commands are required to trigger your spells (in most cases: invoke <magic object>). There are however some general traits that they all share in common.

Magic for ranged combat exists in both offensive and defensive forms; don't assume that a magic wielder is relegated to using martial skills with @ranged 'dodge or @ranged 'block as their only means of defending themself from a ranged attack. Magic abilities, primarily sorcery, are balanced to be stronger than other ranged attacks - because that's essentially all the caster has to fight with. Once caught or disarmed, they cannot reasonably be expected to survive a Duel 2.0 engagement or other means of melee combat the way an archer can drop his bow and take out a sword.

Magic abilities through @Ranged combat also use existing magic skills instead of ranged or martial skills, which means magic wielders have a big head start. Even high end martial PCs have barely trained dodge above level 3 or so, and throwing/bow/crossbow only even became teachable skills a few weeks ago; in contrast, plenty of PCs have moderate or very high level sorcery skills well above what PCs currently have for dodge/throwing/bow/crossbow. Eventually that skill gap will be closed, but magic will always be balanced as stronger than a non-magic ranged attack even with comparable skill levels.

That is not to say, however, that a mage should be a one trick pony. Magic can be countered as well, and though there are very few examples of existing items or methods a non-magic-user can use to counteract a specific spell, the code exists for such objects to find their way in game. Magic is much like a game of rock-paper-scissors on a larger scale, and comes down to trying to find what methods counter what magic abilities. But it can be done! So throw on your Ghost Busters cap and don't be afraid to be proactive and try to find a (reasonable and feasible) way to counter certain magic effects. Just never assume that countering one effect means that a mage doesn't have other spells in his bag of tricks that you didn't anticipate (a magic ward against lightning attacks might not stop a fireball from toasting you). No magic power or magic-countering ability in CM is without restrictions on what it can handle, and what the associated cost of using it is.

Magic stats at a glance

PROS

Same skills utilized for both offense and defense if the appropriate spells are possessed.

A vast array of possible abilities, both offensive and defensive, that do unique things archery and throwing does not.

The ability to invent new spells or abilities to use with @Ranged combat both as attacks and defensive abilities (subject to having high enough skills to use these, and the skill requirement is high).

Relative ease of access if you're a mage. If you cannot legally bear arms or have access to bows, it will be difficult to wander around the castle with these weapons on hand, but any sorcerer permitted to carry their focus (which is all of them) essentially has a ranged weapon on their person at all times, if they know the spells.

Some magical abilities cannot be blocked, whereas archery and throwing attacks are severely hampered by shields. It is worth noting that there exists code for a shield to block energy based magic attacks if enchanted to do so, but that is IC info.

CONS

All magic comes with a price. In the case of binding, this price is the near utter inability to fight martially even if you train your martial skills up due to coded fatigue restrictions.

All spells and magically enchanted items have some limitation, a cost to their useage or creation, such as expending Willpower to cast spells or only being able to use certain magic items or abilities on a cooldown. Not every existing magic object in the game has been updated to this limitation yet - as they come to my attention they will be.

Comment

Effects Library: I am currently working on a project, the debuff effects library. This is not part of @Ranged combat directly but rather is a larger system that will affect Duel 2.0, MCombat and @Ranged. The Effects Library holds a list of debuffs and associated properties as a master control script so that the application and removal of curses/poisons/other effects can all be controlled in a central, consistent location. When this happens, you will see effects like fear, blind and pain affecting your hitrolls and other formulas attached to all of CM's (now three) combat systems. Right now, fear alone is implemented but has no effect in @Ranged Combat.

@Charge: A way to manually set distance points instead of always defaulting to 25 distance regardless of IC circumstances.

Comment

So, quick question, how do you keep hurting them once tackled? Do you have to go regular @ready @fight stuff, or will a simple "stab madman with my sword" work outside of duel 2.0?
thanks!

My assumption here, and I could be wrong, is that you would use the "@charge 'injure" command if your intention is to harm them. If you are just looking for "I'm going to knock you on the ground scenario" you would use "@charge 'tackle'". I also assume once you tackle and go into close proximity with the assailant you could then @melee and/or @fight.

Natasha DanaherCourtier in Her Majesty's Court
Squire to Dame Galatea
Cosmetic Consultant
Apprentice in the Healers
Apprentice in the Clothiers

Comment

So, quick question, how do you keep hurting them once tackled? Do you have to go regular @ready @fight stuff, or will a simple "stab madman with my sword" work outside of duel 2.0?
thanks!

It's really up to however you all want to continue the scene from there. @Charge handles the "how long does it take me to get close to you" portion of the scene. Once you reach someone, you tackle them to the ground and their ranged weapon is lost to them - the ranged combat portion of the scene is considered "done" more or less, unless the two of you roleplay a way that the ranged combatant gets out of your tackle, picks up his ranged weapon and gets enough distance on you to start shooting again.

In either case, you're going to start off with the upper hand in whatever melee scuffle comes next. In the very least you've football-style tackled your opponent to the ground, maybe broken a rib, certainly knocked the wind out of them and have them pinned to the ground. If you used the "injure" parameter with a live weapon, you've additionally run your opponent through and dealt a significant injury, and are now sitting on top of them with a weapon sticking out of their belly/chest. It's not likely there's going to be much of a fight to be had after that point, in most scenarios.

So does this mean we will be looking forward to a archery guild to actually push out some skills? Side note keep up all the great work!

Could be, it goes where it goes IC. Right now there are 4 VPs with archery skills, starting to release them. How openly they release those skills and access to the weapons to use them remains to be seen, but they will likely be at least as restricted as any live sword is.

I should pre-emptively dispell any theories that because archery code now exists, that the Crown is suddenly going to let everyone wander around the castle with a bow. Ordering access to bows and crossbows will likely be restricted ICly to the military and perhaps a Hunter's Guild as an IB organization for courtiers and above. Common folk will likely have to either A) find sponsorship, B) join the military or C) obtain a bow through alternative means; plot events, Master Ali, shadier methods.

Comment

An RNG factor (random number generator) is now included in distance points. When advancing on a target, the amount of distance points advanced by is increased by a random percentage of the affected ability's base advance amount. This means that use of ranged abilities is going to be less so a surefire linear formula of "I can get 5 attacks in" and more "I can get up to five attacks in, but the more I try to squeeze in the greater the risk".

The minimum distance points gained for any ability is 5pts. For number crunchers; this is calculated after the RNG check.

Comment

An RNG factor (random number generator) is now included in distance points. When advancing on a target, the amount of distance points advanced by is increased by a random percentage of the affected ability's base advance amount. This means that use of ranged abilities is going to be less so a surefire linear formula of "I can get 5 attacks in" and more "I can get up to five attacks in, but the more I try to squeeze in the greater the risk".

The minimum distance points gained for any ability is 5pts. For number crunchers; this is calculated after the RNG check.

For we number crunchers... Is there something that can improve this? I noticed the other day that even though I @charged before an attack came, it only advanced me from 25 to 23, resetting to 25 every attack. I assume a dodge or block would let me advance further before getting reset to full distance again, (so dodging up to 5 times, with increasing chance of not needing to go to 5 would be the opposite side of the coin, yes?) Without lots of testing that doesn't render a character crippled for a couple weeks,(i love testing new things.) it seems like in theory that a full reset on distance doesn't feel right in the equation.

I get down to 5, and one hit, puts me all the way back across the room to 25 again. I'm not sure that's ... the goal, but am curious on clarification there for balances sake.

It seems it can can take as few as two successful hits to render someone wounded enough to be down, or take the fight out of them. Serious is serious after all. That sound about right?

Comment

For we number crunchers... Is there something that can improve this? I noticed the other day that even though I @charged before an attack came, it only advanced me from 25 to 23, resetting to 25 every attack. I assume a dodge or block would let me advance further before getting reset to full distance again, (so dodging up to 5 times, with increasing chance of not needing to go to 5 would be the opposite side of the coin, yes?) Without lots of testing that doesn't render a character crippled for a couple weeks,(i love testing new things.) it seems like in theory that a full reset on distance doesn't feel right in the equation.

I get down to 5, and one hit, puts me all the way back across the room to 25 again. I'm not sure that's ... the goal, but am curious on clarification there for balances sake.

It seems it can can take as few as two successful hits to render someone wounded enough to be down, or take the fight out of them. Serious is serious after all. That sound about right?

With the updated numbers, you're never going to advance by as little as 2pts per ability. The absolute minimum is 5pts, and that's on a highly skilled ranged combatant using a fast ability. When you add the RNG roll in, you're looking at more like 5 to 8 per fast ability on a skilled ranged char, which will catch the attacker on their fourth attack (preventing it) if the dice gods are in your favour. Bear in mind catching them once wins the fight for you - for them to win they have to strike you usually 2 to 4 times depending on the ability used; if it didn't reset your distance points you could more or less soak up those injuries and still catch them and run them through with your sword.

Comment

@charge 'pause - Toggles pause status, allowing your character to manually halt/resume their advance. While paused, you will not advance even if your target uses a recognized ranged ability.

@charge 'increase # - Manually increase your distance points by the specified number between 1 and 20, for situations that necessitate it.

@charge 'decrease # - Manually decrease your distance points by the specified number between 1 and 20, for situations that necessitate it.

@charge <target> '<attack type> <distance> - You can now set initial @charge distance to be more than or less than the default amount for scenarios when this applies (ie: already standing close to target, or conversely, in a very large room that requires more distance covered). Accepted distances:

"close"; sets starting distance to 15pts, for small rooms or when already standing near target before combat commenced.

"far"; sets starting distance to 45pts, for very large rooms like outer ramparts or courtyards.

In addition...

...the default distance (if none is specified) is now 30.
...the aim feature for bows and crossbows has now been implemented and requires level 3 (Senior Apprentice) bow or crossbow skill.
...the magic debuff "fear" now slows advance speed of @charging characters.
...fixed a bug where blocking a ranged attack via shield would cause an attack to freeze.
...fixed a bug where striking a target that isn't charging at you will still notify you they're no longer charging at you.
...fixed a bug where a wielded ranged weapon would not be dropped after a successful @charge.

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